The Christian theologian is tasked with the humble calling of speaking about God. If he is any good, his meditations on the sacred Trinity materialize not just as dogmatic assertions of the faith, but as some understanding that corresponds to God in himself. Too little are we startled by how strange this is. Here stands […]
Wednesday, 25 May, 2022 by Ryan M. Hurd
by Franciscus Junius translated by Ryan M. Hurd The following is a translation of Franciscus Junius’s De Providentia Dei, “God’s Providence,” a short disputation held while he was professor. Abstaining from further introduction about Junius himself, I will add a word regarding the translation below. I have made no effort to establish a critical text […]
Saturday, 01 January, 2022 by Ryan M. Hurd
Oxford Handbook of Reformed TheologyEdited by Michael Allen and Scott R. SwainOxford: Oxford University Press, 2020688 pages (hardcover), $145.00 Reformed theology is catholic Protestantism, and catholic Protestantism is Reformed theology. The volume before me serves as a summarized introduction to the question, what is Reformed theology? It provides something of its genesis in the sixteenth […]
Saturday, 01 May, 2021 by Ryan M. Hurd
TRANSLATED BY RYAN M. HURD The following is a translation of Franciscus Junius’s De libertate christiana, “Christian Liberty.” Franciscus Junius (1545–1602) was professor of theology at Heidelberg from 1584 to 1592, when he moved to Leiden and was professor of theology there until his death in 1602. Public disputations were common academic practice during this […]
Monday, 01 March, 2021 by Ryan M. Hurd
“Describing God in bodily pictures is the most fitting way of doing it.” Thomas Aquinas, I Sent d 34 q 3 a 1 resp There is an opportunity which is incipient to the current surge of classical theism; it is one to be seized and to be hopeful about. However, I am acutely concerned at […]
Friday, 12 February, 2021 by Ryan M. Hurd
It is good to remind ourselves of the absolute basics of negative names and their use in theology proper, within the specialty of systematics, where we dare to utter what God is. Confusion on the negative names in systematics is unfortunately quite abundant today, and has been for hundreds of years if we are to […]
Friday, 08 January, 2021 by Ryan M. Hurd
The Wonderful Works of God: Instruction in the Christian Religion according to the Reformed ConfessionBy Herman BavinckWestminster Seminary Press, 2019695 pages (hardcover), $49.99 Here’s a secret: I don’t much like one-volume systematics, and my sentiment is harshened when I turn and see how much they weigh down my bookshelves. I ask myself what volume I […]
Friday, 01 January, 2021 by Ryan M. Hurd
What God has done in Christ is cause for confession of praise. The delightful responsibility of the Christian theologian is not only to offer up the whole range of judgments about this, all the affirmations and negations, but to maximize as well as he can the “some understanding” within the predicates of these judgments. Judgment […]
Thursday, 24 December, 2020 by Ryan M. Hurd
Contemporary Theology: An Introduction; Classical, Evangelical, Philosophical & Global PerspectivesBy Kirk R. MacGregorZondervan, 2019416 pages (hardcover), $34.99 MacGregor’s volume attempts to serve as an overview of various currents and tributaries feeding the body of current theological waters; as far as I can tell, it is pitched to serve as a textbook for something like a […]
Sunday, 01 November, 2020 by Ryan M. Hurd
Katherine Sonderegger has taken up the titanic project of a life: writing a multi-volume systematics. In this I have nothing but hearty encouragement to issue, and humble thanks to offer in exchange for the fruit of her labors. Dr. Sonderegger is certainly one of the top Protestant theologians alive, and I am grateful for her […]
Wednesday, 12 August, 2020 by Ryan M. Hurd
Under the attribute of divine presence, we unfold how God is interior to each and every creature. A systematic articulation of this, aimed at some understanding, departs from the dogmatic assertion that God is in every thing, a truth not only demonstrated in natural theology but likewise revealed in Scripture: God, with his identity and […]
Wednesday, 05 August, 2020 by Ryan M. Hurd